8 things to avoid if you want to live a long life

But figuring out how to get there is confusing — there’s so much mixed information out there about what a person should do to increase their health and longevity.

So we’ve collected here nine behaviours that scientists agree measurably shorten people’s lives. None of the items on this list is controversial in the field, even if there’s lots researchers do disagree with.

You’ll notice many of these are foods. That’s because most of the best science on longevity out there, recently reviewed in the sweeping paper “Metabolic Control of Longevity” in the journal Cell, has focused on the relationship between your metabolism and the lifetimes of your cells.

Without further ado, here are nine things to avoid — as much as possible, at least — if you want to live a long and healthy life.